The Duneland Athletic Conference girls cross country race is wide open this
season, with as many as six teams -- LaPorte, Portage, Lake Central,
Valparaiso, Chesterton and Crown Point -- staking a legitimate claim to
title contention.

"It's really packed," Trojans coach Brian Carden said. "LaPorte's beaten us
three times and it's been fairly close every time."

Chesterton found itself at the back end of the Duneland jumble at Saturday's
New Prairie Invitational, scoring 232 points to finish eighth, behind
LaPorte (137), Portage (138), Lake Central (157) and Valparaiso (214) and
just ahead of Crown Point (232).

"I hope this lights a little fire," Carden said. "We kind of lost track of
the teams we were racing. Portage was up there and we didn't know where they
were. They ran a great race. LaPorte's got that one-two punch. We've got to
be conscious of the teams we're racing against."

Josie Tolin, who has been slowed by a nagging back that's cost her some
workouts, placed 69th (21:12.4) with Leah Sink 96th (21:58.3).

"Lindsey's starting to realize she can run with these girls," Carden said.
"Overall, it was a decent race. It's kind of the same talk we have every
year. We've got a nice pack and if we can move up 30 seconds, we'll see
where we're at. I know we can do it. We've just got to keep improving. Our
goal was to race the second half, coming off the hill, and we did for the
most part. Most of them did the best they could. We're still not set on our
top five."

Penn claimed the team title with 93 points. LaPorte's Elena Lancioni was
individual champion, overtaking Penn's Maddie Woods in the last mile to win
going away in 18:09.7

"There are three parts to the season," Carden said. "You've got the
beginning, where they're just getting their feet wet, trying to figure out
the top five. New Prairie's kind of the start of the end of the season,
where you start to see where things are at. Then there's the post-season,
when you want to be on your best. We're not there yet, but I'm hoping we're
moving in the right direction."